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Monday, July 4, 2016

What kind of cult is SGI?

"The Soka Gakkai incorporates varied and multi-levels of cultism into their overall structure. A partial list:

1. First and foremost, it is a cult that hides under the general banner of a mainstream eastern religion. A buddhist cult. 2. It incorporates elements of a political cult (Komeito) which manipulates to gain power for the very top (Japan) leadership. 3. It's a "peace" cult that exploits people's universal desires for world peace and human rights. 4. It's a financial cult, a pyramid scheme, that makes overt promises of monetary and worldly gain, exploiting one of the most basic of human desires - avarice. 5. It's an art based cult that uses creative-artistic angles to get people involved (e.g., music in the form of brass band/kotekitai, taiko drum groups / performing arts in the form of the cultural festivals / martial arts, they even used to have a kendo group that I recall). 6. It's a business-employer cult that exploits its salaried staff by taking over their entire lives, using them for its own gain and making them dependent on the organization for their livelihood. The further you rise and the longer you do their bidding, the more they literally own your soul. 7. It's a selling cult based on its sgi stores selling faith accessories, books (Ikeda's), multimedia (CD's/DVD's/etc.), newspapers (Seikyo Shimbun/WT), magazines (Daibyakurenge/SGI Graphic/ST). For those of you who may not know, their gakkai stores in Japan sell an entire line of gakkai-colored-themed goods (pencils, keychains, buttons, scotch tape, handkerchiefs, mini-flags, wrapping paper, posters, etc.) in red, blue and yellow. In many cases, the workers that staff these shops are unpaid member volunteers, as are the hundreds-thousands of members who deliver their organizational newspaper on their own time (and collect monthly fees) without monetary compensation. 8. A metaphysical-magical cult that teaches and encourages rituals (gongyo, daimoku, reading daily guidance, etc.). 9. A cultural cult that offers a community of like minded eastern based individuals (attitudes/outlooks/mindset/etc.) for those from those same countries or other ethnic groups that may be fascinated with such cultures. 10. A self-help & philosophical bent cult that proffers wisdom & guidance to its members.11. Surrogate Family cult. (I can also add that when the chips are down, they will not be around, either. I've seen it a number of times and it's a harsh realization for the people that experience it.) 12. It's an autocratic cult with lower level hierarchies that pits even its own leaders against each other, playing off of their insecurities. (This is so true and I've seen evidence of this at the WCC.) 13. It's a vengeful cult that can manipulate its membership to wage personal wars against those that it chooses to set their sites on secondary to perceived wrongdoings or crossing the wrong person. (The most infamous being - the priesthood.) Most cults only incorporate a single category or dual combination of the above, but the sgi has woven them all into a complete monolithic manipulative machine that ultimately aims to subtly take away your autonomy, self control and self determination rights by way of engaging you in a long lasting (sometimes lifetime and even generational for families caught up in it) destructive, coercive, deceitful, exploitive and harmful relationship. Having seen both the inside and outside of this monster cult, I feel sorry for anybody that gets mixed up in it and hope that they can eventually see the light and extricate themselves from it." -- Hitch